I recently complained to the ASA about a “Cotton Traders” ad for clothes by post which added in an “insurance” charge – albeit with an asterisk to a note below. This note showed that the insurance in fact only ensured that the stuff arrived in 7 days, and did not cover the goods themselves (and…
Something funny appears to be happening in the Department of Health. Some time ago, the government asked the Chief Medical Officers to review the accepted “Safe Drinking Levels”, in the light of more recent research, to see whether the 21 units per week (for men) and 14 units (for women) were still “best evidence” limits.…
In a fascinating new biography of Brian Abel-Smith, Sally Sheard describes how this towering intellectual LSE professor influenced a generation of social scientists, global thinking on health, welfare and poverty, and over three decades of Labour thinking. (Sally Sheard, The Passionate Economist: How Brian Abel-Smith shaped global health and social welfare, Policy Press, 2014.) In…
During the recent passage of the Transparency Bill, Labour, Cross Bench and some government Peers sought to amend the first part which deals with a Statutory Register of Lobbyists. Ex Ministers and former civil servants stressed that its coverage – only requiring meetings with Ministers or Permanent Secretaries to be declared – was nonsense, as…
